Yesterday I mentioned that I’d be posting about a number of healthy, attainable goals and how to actually meet these goals.
First things first: lose the “all or nothing” mentality.
No one is perfect, so when trying to meet your goals, don’t be a perfectionist. Just try to do your very best to reach your goals instead.
If you happen to mess up or your plans get de-railed, then just try to do better the next time.
When things go wrong, don’t give yourself permission to keep doing wrong. Move on, and use the next opportunity to get closer to your goal.
Here is the first healthy goal for 2012:
Eat more vegetables and fruit
I know I sound like a broken record, but people are just not eating enough fruits and veggies.
The recommended amount to eat each day is 2 cups fruit and 2½ cups of vegetables.
I know sounds daunting, but it really can be done. It just takes a little effort.
Let’s focus on the vegetables first. I’m sure you’ve heard of all the wonderful health benefits of vegetables, so we will just talk about ways to easily increase the amount of vegetables you eat each day.
Try to eat just one more vegetable a day.
Start out small, and increase later.
You can add this vegetable to any meal or snack. Adding a serving of vegetables to one of your snacks is easy. One cup of baby carrots dipped in a couple of tablespoons of hummus (or this one) is one of my favorite snacks.
Remember that one serving of vegetables is a measly ½ cup cooked or 1 cup raw.
Another suggestion is to make at least half of your plate filled with vegetables. This is the concept behind the new USDA healthy eating guidelines of MyPlate. Good riddance to the pyramid…
Try to eat just one more fruit a day.
It’s the same as for the vegetables. I think adding a fruit is easiest at breakfast, a snack, or dessert. One cup or one small piece of fruit counts as one serving. Personally, I like to make smoothies after I exercise to get all my fruit servings in one big glass. Eating more fruit is usually pretty easy for most people.
- Next week, add another extra vegetable to your day. Work your way to eating 5 vegetables each day. Feel free to eat more though!
- Increase your fruit intake to 2-3 servings a day.
Pretty much every recipe on this blog has at least one serving of a fruit or vegetable. For future recipes I will try to include the servings of fruits and vegetables 
Have a great week! Enjoy your veggies & fruit!!
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